behaviorism

1. General: Approach to psychology based on the belief that all human actions and responses can be explained in terms of reflexes conditioned by reward and punishment (carrot and stick). Drawing largely on the works of the US psychologists John B. Watson (1878-1958) and S. F. Skinner (1904-90), it regards unambiguously observable and measurable behavior as the only basis for scientific psychological investigation, and ignores consciousness and introspection.